Chapter 2:

It took everything Rebel had to hold it together enough to remember she had to look surprised, excited and overwhelmed. Her win of the Royal Rumble would have been a momentous occasion in the WWE, and as it dawned on her that she had really done it, the feeling of being in the shit once she got backstage lessened. The crowds chanted her name as one, she looked down at Big E as he stood up, put his hands on his hips and looked at her with half a grin on his face. He then got in to the ring, and walked over. Rebel froze, and tried not to panic. But she needn't have worried, as he simply held out a hand, shook her own, and congratulated her, before holding her hand up as the winner. He was followed by Dean and Roman, both congratulating her with hugs and handshakes, before she was left to enjoy the moment in the ring.

Once backstage however, her joy turned to concern as she hurried to find Hunter. Something had gone wrong, something had happened that meant she won, when she wasn't supposed to. She skidded round a corner to find Hunter in conference with Stephanie, Roman, Dean, Big Show and Big E, and worst of all, Vince Mc Mahon. Swallowing hard, she went over.

"There you are! That was fantastic, Rebel!" exclaimed Stephanie.

"what happened? Something went wrong, there was no way I was supposed to win that," she managed.

"We know. Rusev bucked the plan, Rebel. You aren't in the shit, don't worry." Hunter reassured.

"How can I not be? Dean was supposed to win that, not me." She said in a deadpan voice.

"You acted professionally out there, you all did." Vince replied. "Dean managed to clue Roman in straight away, the rest of you managed to follow through. If you'd have hesitated, if you'd have waited for Big E to get in, it would look like you gifted him the win. You were all perfect."

"Ok, so...now we need to engineer a situation where I give my headlining slot to Dean and we can all go back to how we were..." Rebel began, but Stephanie held up a hand.

"I wish we could, Rebel, I really wish we could. But there will be huge ramifications if we did that. I mean, you're the first woman to win the Royal Rumble. If we did that, if we took it from you...we'd be seen as sexist, behind the times, bias against women...everything we're not. I'm afraid you'll have to headline Wrestlemania."

"But...but everyone will expect me to go for a title...I can't go for any of them...the Diva title doesn't change hands after tonight till Wrestlemania, and that match is already set in stone..." Rebel spluttered. Everyone looked kindly at her as Hunter said he was sure they could figure something out.

"Well..I guess I'll go change...I'll see you at the arena tomorrow." She said, before turning and walking off.

"Hey Rebel," Big Show called, making her turn. "Congratulations. You deserved the win." She smiled, nodded and began to walk off to the locker room.

It was a dream. A wonderful, amazing dream that never happened, I'm going to wake up this morning and it's going to be Sunday morning, the Royal Rumble is tonight, and...oh bollocks. She woke up to her alarm playing the Sports News broadcast, and heard the words "Rebel Wild, the first woman to win the Royal Rumble WILL be headlining Wrestlemania," She wiped her eyes, and hauled herself out of the hotel bed. She turned on the TV, and was greeted with pictures of herself in the ring, tipping Big E out and winning the rumble.

"Oh for fucks sake, it's everywhere already," she groaned, turning over the channels to see it was the same on every major news station. Admitting defeat, she turned it off, and went to shower.

Going down to breakfast, she tried to keep a low profile, but it just wasn't happening. Everyone who'd supported her entry was coming over, congratulating and telling her well done. Even Paul Heyman came over with Brock Lesnar, or rather, following Lesnar, who sat down at her table. There was silence as Rebel and Brock ate, Paul eyeing the pair nervously as he tried to eat something himself. People around were watching carefully, aware of the powder keg that was ready to erupt at the table. As Rebel finished and stood, he put a hand over hers to stop her from leaving before he spoke.

"Look. I know, through the grapevine, you hate me for taking Undertaker's streak. It's understandable, a hardcore fan such as yourself has every right to be pissed at me. But I wanted to say two things. One, watch your back. People will be after your blood now, and those you called friends will turn on you. You'll need to keep your friends close, and enemies closer. Secondly," he added, letting go of her hand, "Congratulations. A win like that was well deserved."

"Th...thank you," she managed, before beating a hasty retreat.

She arrived at the arena, and still, people called to her and wished her well done. It felt wrong to Rebel, it felt like it was a huge mistake. Try as she might she couldn't be pleased about her win. Nothing felt right, and probably wouldn't feel right, till they gave her a direction of where to go. She decided to carry on as normal, and got changed, before heading to her favourite perch, a little way off from the gorilla where an empty equipment box was always stored. It was a great place to watch people as they came and went to their matches. She was in her own world so when Randy Orton came up to her, she only just noticed him.

"So, Rebel Wild, here you are. A Royal Rumble Winner. You join an elite class, Rebel. People will always know you as the person who won the 2015 Royal Rumble now. Even if it was a lucky win."

"I know I wasn't supposed to win. Rusev bucked the plan, it's his fault I guess..." she said, trailing off at the venomous smile he was now giving her.

"See, you're a little off track there. You could have, at any time, admitted you were in way out of your league, and gotten out. Jumped over the top rope, and walked away. But you didn't."

"What's your point, Randy? You've obviously got one." Rebel snapped, irritated.

"My point is this. You're lucky Big E went for Rusev not you. You got a lucky break. You'd better not slip up, Rebel, because when you do, and it's only a matter of time before you do, I'll be waiting to graciously take your slot. That poor Rebel couldn't cope under the stress of being headline act at Wrestlemania." He'd backed her up against the wall now, almost face to face. His arms pinned her either side, she could go nowhere. "When you fuck up, I'll take it all away from you, and you'll be left with nothing but memories." He gave her a smile that was so fake it made Rebel's skin crawl. "Don't be late, Rebel. Hunter will be looking for his new starlet." He added, before stepping back and walking away.

She waited till he had gone before rushing to the nearest bathroom, running a sink full of water and sticking her head in it to calm herself down.

"Fucking wanker...tosspot...absolute mother fucking c-"

"Yo, Rebel, you know this is the guys toilets right?" asked a voice, cutting off a nasty swear word as she turned to see John Cena, amused as he leant against the cubicle door.

"Oh balls." She groaned. "Sorry, I'm outta here, didn't notice, just needed a bathroom." She said, before heading out the door, John following behind.

"If I know you, and 'm sure I do, you only use that language when someone's upset you, and it's pretty bad to upset you enough to use the "C" word." He said, giving her the look she'd seen so many times with others. The "What's wrong, and who do i have to injure to make it better" look.

"John...how many people are genuinely happy I won last night?" she asked, avoiding the question.

"Well...honestly?" he asked, and Rebel could see him squirm a little trying to find a tactful way to answer. She nodded. John took off his hat and ran a hand over his head before putting it back on. "Well...it's down to three groups. Those that are genuinely pleased you won, that are happy to see the change, that it's about time you had your shot or that a Diva won the Rumble anyway. There's those that are pissed, for whatever reason, that you won. I dunno, a girl winning the rumble, some think it should have been them, or that a woman shouldn't have been allowed to win. I know it wasn't planned for you to win either."

"And the third group?" she asked as they walked.

"The third group don't give a damn either way as long as they still have a job, and get to do what they love." He said simply.

"And which group are you in?" she asked.

"Rebel...I'm hurt you even had to ask," he smiled, "The first of course. Bout time you got to show your true talents, not limiting you to pulling hair."

"Careful, don't let Nikki hear you say that," Rebel laughed.

"Ah she knows how I feel about it." John said with a wave of the hand. "Seriously though. Well done out there last night. What you did was nothing short of amazing. You got put in to submission holds, you got RKO'd, choke slammed, hell, even had your nose busted but you kept going. Your family should be proud of you."

"Yeah...let's not go there..." she said with a pained smile.

"Still won't talk to you?" John said in disbelief. Rebel shook her head.

"Nope. All it took was for me to cut off the financial aid, when she clearly could afford it, y'know, going on three holidays in a year etc, with the cash I was sending home for bill money, and bang, back to being the black sheep. She cut me off with a real shitty letter, a few abusive voicemails...you should hear the last one, it's vile...and now they all want nothing to do with me." Rebel said with a shrug of the shoulders. "you'd think, after Dad passing, and my brother passing, she'd be a lot nicer considering I'm all she's got left."

She should have realised sooner, Rebel thought to herself, that she would now also be thrown in to the Authority VS the Roster war as a result of her win. Of course it made perfect storyline sense, really. The Authority would love to have the new Royal Rumble winner on their side, for as long as that person and Seth Rollins would get along. New Champion John Cena, however, would love to have the Rumble Winner in his court too. Suddenly, storylines that had been nothing to do with Rebel were all over her. And as they finished rehearsals, she wasn't overly keen on them either. Hell, even Stephanie looked weary of the Authority storyline, and to Rebel's surprise, confessed as much when the two walked to the backstage area after they finished.

"I'll be honest, Rebel, I'm not sure how much longer they want to keep this up for. I can't tell you the amount of hate mail I get just for this." She said.

"Hate mail?" Rebel was surprised. Stephanie nodded.

"Oh yeah. Hunter and I get it by the bucket load. It comes with being a royal asshole on TV, Y'know?" She sighed and smiled a little. "But when people like you get the chance to wrestle and make such an impact...a few shitty letters is worth it. How are you feeling after yesterday? That was a lot of blood from that clothesline."

"I'm good...sore but good. And yeah it was a lot of blood." Rebel replied, spotting Dean Ambrose further up the corridor. "Would you excuse me? I need to speak to Dean."

"Oh sure...and Rebel...be careful. He's not been in a good mood today." Steph added, and walked off.

As Rebel approached, Dean's scowl was clear to see. He was sat on a crate, flexing his hands and cracking knuckles. Rebel hoped those knuckles weren't headed for her as she got nearer.

"Ambrose...Dean...are you ok?" she asked. She got no reply, so she carried on. "Listen. I know right now, you're probably really angry with me, and I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, and I get that. What I wanted to say was, I'm sorry. If there's a way I could give you my headlineing slot, I would do..." she trailed off as he stood up in front of her and looked her dead in the eye.

"I'm not pissed at you right now, Rebel." He said in a calm, level voice. Rebel frowned.

"You aren't? Why the hell not?" she asked, taken aback a little. Dean gave her one of his little smiles.

"It's not your fault that Rusev tipped me out. It's not your fault that you were still in the Rumble at the right time. No, this lays firmly at Rusev's feet, for making the decision to throw the whole plan away." He sat back down again, patting the crate next to him to say she should have a seat. Rebel did as asked and he leant back against the wall. "I get the impression you don't feel comfortable with the win, Rebel."

"No, I fucking don't." She admitted. "Month after month, I've begged for a chance to prove myself, to do something great and show the world what I'm capable of. I finaly get my chance, and everyone gave me the chance in the ring...then Rusev fucked up the plan. Now I'm in a position I shouldn't be in. Not because I didn't want to win, let's face it, who doesn't want to win the rumble. But I won off the back of someone else's misdeed, and someone else's misfortune." She looked to her left and found Dean watching, his face impassive, as she spoke.

"The buzz in the locker room is that Randy Orton didn't take too kindly to your win either." Dean said. She furrowed her brow at him. "Don't ask me how I know, all that matters is that I know." He said, referring to her encounter with Randy earlier. "stand your ground with him Rebel. Once he realises you aren't such a pushover, he'll back off."

"And if he doesn't?" She asked.

"Then let's just say I know of three Samoans, two of which are twins that would love to get a little crazy on his ass, if you get me, Us."

"O...I get you," She laughed.

Never had she been so glad to get through an episode of RAW. Rebel was in the locker room, just trying to sit and think, towel round her neck as her hair dried. First, she had been brought out by The Authority, or rather, by Seth Rollins, to advise her that she should really side with them, and they would ensure she got all the chances she wanted at future pay per views. Then John Cena came out, advising her that she shouldn't trust the Authority, they've already proved that they would turn their backs on her in a heartbeat if she screwed up. Seth and Cena argued, before Rebel told them both to shut the hell up and she would decide what side she was on, if she even picked one, in her own time.

Next, during a backstage interview with Renee, she had been interrupted by Dean, congratulating her on camera, and asking if she wanted to be ringside during his match.

"Why, are you looking for a chance to do me in too?" she had asked.

"No, I just wanted to know what it's like to be in the company of someone who's the right kind of unstable, like me," He'd replied, before walking off. Rebel had groaned about this in rehearsal, much to everyone's amusement. The idea of Dean being sweet on someone was well out of the park, they would have to be someone as nuts as he was, and in the creative team's mind, she was now the perfect fit. Once the pair were ringside, the match became a tag team match against Tyson Kidd and Antonio Cesaro. The win went to Rebel and Dean, showing the pair worked well together, and showed Rebel was well on form, and that the Rumble win had certainly not been a fluke.

Finally, at the end of Raw, she was called out. Steph and Triple H demanded she pick her side and pick it carefully, to which Rebel had replied she didn't respond well to threats, and picked Team Cena...if it was even a team anymore. This erupted in to a brawl between her and Seth, shortly joined by Daniel Bryan, Roman, Dean, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Eric Rowan. They were joined by Damien Sandow, The Miz, Wade Barrett, joining Big Show, Kane, Seth and J&J Security as Triple H and Steph got out of the ring. She ended up treating Seth to his own move, a kerb stomp on to the Money in the Bank briefcase, before John Cena came out and proudly declared it was no longer Team Cena, it was Team Rebel.

"Oh this is the biggest load of bollocks ever." She muttered under her breath, finaly deciding to towel off her hair and get going. She couldn't think, she wanted a drink, and knew as soon as she got back to the hotel, she would have to make sure everything was packed to head to where they were taping Smackdown the next day. She stuffed her things in her bag and left the locker room, before heading to the car park and her trusty motorbike. There was nothing that cleared her head better than a ride on her ride. Except when she got outside, her motorbike was gone.

"What the fuck?" she exclaimed, taking in the empty parking bay where her bike should have been. As she wheeled round, looking for it, thinking maybe it was in a different bay than she thought, she caught sight of a black limo. The door opened and a hand beckoned to her.

"Come with me, Miss Wild." Said a voice she couldn't quite place.

"Where's my bike?" she blurted, not sure what to say.

"It's back at the hotel. I've come a long way to see you." The owner of the voice leant forwards revealing who it was. "Or don't you trust me?" Rebel almost dropped her bag, realising who it was.

"With my life." She replied, going over and climbing in the limo, pulling the door closed behind her.